PHILADELPHIA ­— Four doctors in three cities told Jason Richardson the same thing: His season is over.

The Sixers shooting guard will undergo season-ending surgery next week to fix a broken-off piece of cartilage in his left knee. The 32-year-old’s recovery process will take nine to 12 months.

“I got a hole the size of a quarter in my knee that’s required to get fixed,” Richardson said Friday, following the Sixers’ practice at PCOM. “It’s going to be a pretty long process to get back on the court.

“One of those things, I guess. It broke off and it’s got to get repaired.”

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Richardson hasn’t scheduled the surgery yet, though he said he’ll go under the knife next week at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital. It’ll be performed by Jonathan Glashow, the orthopaedic surgeon whom Richardson visited for a third opinion.

He hasn’t played since Jan. 18 against Toronto. Richardson said he’s watched the game film five times “trying to find out if I did something.” The verdict?

“Nothing,” he said. “That’s what’s mind-boggling about it. It could’ve been anything. Just the wear and tear of the season. It definitely was nothing I did.”

The other piece in the Sixers’ August trade for Andrew Bynum, Richardson is in the first year of a three-year deal. He made $5.8 million this season, statistically the worst of his career, and is slated to make $6.2 million next season. He has a player option for the 2014-15 season.

Because of his age, Richardson’s recovery could be complicated. Assuming he’s ahead of schedule, Richardson could return by November. If he needs all 12 months, he wouldn’t be back until the All-Star break next season.

“From his standpoint, this has got to be a little unnerving,” Sixers coach Doug Collins said. “He’s at this stage of his career and to have this kind of surgery, the recovery time is going to be lengthy, and you take a guy whose career has been explosive power in his lift and jumping, J-Rich is down and I can understand that.”

Richardson’s a gamer who doesn’t like to sit, which explains why he sought four opinions for his left knee synovitis.

He first met with Sixer team physician Jack McPhilemy, then flew to Vail, Colo., for a sit-down with knee specialist Richard Steadman. Then Richardson visited Glashow in New York before seeing a fourth physician — an unnamed specialist at the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania — sometime Thursday.

If one had told Richardson he could play through it, he said he would have.

“Knowing if I just got it cleaned and scoped, got all the loose cartilage out, the size of the hole would’ve kept on grinding down,” he said. “Next thing I know, it would be bone on bone. I’ve got too much life to live after basketball. I have kids I want to be able to play with and stuff like that. I didn’t want to take the chance of just having it cleaned and end up being bone on bone.”